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Study Looks At Persuasive Speech

DETROIT (WWJ) - Want to convince someone to do something? A new University of Michigan study has some intriguing insights drawn from how we speak.

The study examines how various speech characteristics influence people's decisions in telephone surveys.

But the findings have many other implications for many other situations from closing sales to swaying voters or getting stubborn spouses to see your way.

The study analyzed speech rates, fluency and pitch to determine people's success.

Interviewers who spoke moderately fast were much more successful at getting people to agree, than those who talked very fast or  very slowly.

Very fast talkers were seen as untrustworthy and people who spoke really slow  were viewed as not too bright.

To listen to the U of M podcast about the study - connect to this link.

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